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Lifehacker finance Jedi Alicia Adamczyk would warn against the practice—and it’s good advice—but it can be tough to resist the temptation to check the stock market every day. You don’t have to do anything with this information; sometimes it’s just nice to watch the world burn, as it were, because someone said or did something and the entire market took a 1,000-point poop.

(It’s also fun to watch it go up 1,000 points for seemingly no reason.)

It’s been over a year since Google cut a ton of functionality from its super-helpful, free stock tracking tool, something I would have recommended for casual and aspiring investors looking to get a little more understanding about what the market is doing each day.

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Thankfully, there are plenty of other solid alternatives for getting your daily dose of financial depression (or exuberance). Here’s a quick roundup of a few of my favorites—starting with a quick reminder that Google Finance isn’t really dead, just different.

I, like many of you, assumed Google Finance was over and done when the company announced in late 2017 that it was making substantial changes to the free service. I quickly started looking elsewhere for my financial fix, but perhaps I abandoned the site a bit too early. If you only need the most basic of information about your portfolio, Google Finance is still a viable free service. It’s also a lot more spartan now, post-changes—for better or worse.

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On Google Finance’s primary page, you’ll get a small box that shows you a subset of stocks on your watchlist—not the whole thing, because that would be too useful, but a handful of stocks you’re tracking. You also get a quick glance at stocks you’ve recently searched for, a box that shows stocks you might be interested in (ha!), and a quick look at the major indices for U.S. and world markets. (Currencies, too.)

Screenshot: David Murphy

You can add stocks you care about to your aforementioned watchlist, and you can see everything on that list on a separate “Your Stocks” tab. Clicking on any stock brings up the ol’ familiar price chart, and you can compare the stock’s performance to any other stock you want. While you don’t get a data box that dishes out the company’s financials, like its dividend yield, market cap, or P/E ratio, you can at least quickly see how its latest quarterly statement is doing.

Screenshot: David Murphy

I probably wouldn’t use Google Finance to day trade—especially since it killed a separate tool you could use to find companies by market cap, P/E ratio, and other criteria—but Google Finance isn’t terrible if you only need a quick peek at your portfolio from time to time (or all the time, even though you’re going to drive yourself crazy).

Even though I don’t like anything about Yahoo—sorry, fantasy football fans—the company’s free stock-tracking service has become one of my daily go-tos. Since it’s Yahoo, however, its Finance website starts covered with news, not numbers.

Screenshot: David Murphy

I appreciate that you can create your own custom list of stocks you want to track, and Yahoo gives you plenty of categories to browse if you’re trying to find new stocks to add to your list—whether you care about regular companies, cryptocurrencies, the most active stocks of the day, commodities, ETFs, et cetera.

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You’ll need to sign in with a Yahoo account to create your portfolio, which at least gives you a reason to resurrect it (unless you’re a closet Yahoo Mail fan). You can also link your Yahoo account to an outside broker, which is useful if you’ve already built a portfolio at Fidelity, Coinbase, Robinhood, or other similar entities.

I also think it’s great that Yahoo Finance gives you a good amount of information about an individual stock—a company, really—when you click through to view it. You’ll get all of the basics:

Screenshot: David Murphy

In addition, you can compare stocks to one another on a big-ass chart, view any posts other Yahoo users have made about the stock (oof), and get a whole boatload of statistics about the company (including P/E, outstanding shares, operating margins, and other fun 10-Q information, as well as dividend yields and payouts). Additionally, you can view historical highs and lows, see analysts’ estimates, and check out institutional holders. That sure is a lot for a free service; I hope it makes you rich.

Now we’re getting interesting. I like that TradingView really focuses on numbers instead of news, which is pretty apparent the first time you load up the page and see a giant, real-time stock tracker covering the top of the site. And that’s just the start of the fun.

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Pick a stock. Any stock. Enter it into the handy search bar, and you’ll immediately get a giant, blown-up chart to stare at, as well as helpful data points—the daily range, volume, EPS, P/E, market cap, and dividend yield—right above the graph.

Screenshot: David Murphy

It gets better. Click on that “full featured chart” button to transform your monitor into a giant trading terminal—well, the look and feel of a trading terminal, at least:

Screenshot: David Murphy

I won’t get deep into the basics, since Tradingview lets you do it all: create watch lists, compare stocks, quickly scan through all kinds of markets, and browse to find new stocks based on a variety of technical parameters. It costs nothing to set up a standard account, which lets you save and track your portfolio (and set up a single alert for a stock, among other features). If you want to do more, you’ll have to pay $10 monthly—at minimum.

I wanted to call out Stockrow, specifically, because I love the site’s spartan design. It’s not full of eye-catching annoyances, just simple, plain text and hyperlinks to related corporate news that’s presented with quick headlines and brief synopses—even though the sentences can look a little garbled.

Screenshot: David Murphy

I wouldn’t use Stockrow to track my portfolio, since you’d have to sign up for an account (registrations are closed as of when I wrote this). You’d also have to pay Stockrow $14/monthly for a membership, which lets you do things like watch a portfolio or receive realtime stock prices.

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However, if you’re looking to get insight into stocks every now and then, I like the site’s charting tools. Click on the “Chart” link on the site’s front page, and you’re taken to a tool that lets you pick the parameters you want the chart to have before it gets generated. You can add a variety of companies you want to track at once and pick which indicators—stock price, P/E ratio, Dividends per Share, Debt to Equity, et cetera—you want the chart to focus on. Heck, you can have a few, if you don’t mind a messy chart.

Screenshot: David Murphy

If you want to stick with the basics—and only investigate a single company at once—the site presents its charting tools in a clear, easy-to-understand manner. You can even mouse over the company’s various data points to get a quick description of what it actually means (saving you a Google, if you’re still learning the ins and outs of finance). Additionally, a handy “Snapshots” button gives you a wealth of key information about a company’s income, balance sheets, and cashflow at once, all organized in a series of charts that you’d otherwise have to create yourself on other sites.

Screenshot: David Murphy

Alternatives: Gurufocus,if you need pretty graphical bars to let you know how a company’s various indicators are performing against the industry and its own financial history.

The versatility of the humble egg is almost mind-blowing. While eggs are perfectly delicious with nothing more than a sprinkle of salt, they also glow up remarkably easily, bringing rich, flavorful yolk and hunger-fighting substance to whatever dish you plop ‘em into. They are a breakfast workhorse, and we have gathered up all of our favorite ways to prepare them.

Lifehacker readers love a good to-do list list. We’re goal-oriented, and we like to feel a sense of accomplishment.

But what happens when you’re not making as much progress as you’d like? When you’re a little lost, and you can’t seem to figure out what you’re next move is?

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One way to ground yourself, writes Jocelyn K. Glei, who hosts the Hurry Slowly podcast about productivity and living a fulfilling life, is to look in an unexpected place for inspiration.

“The designer Maira Kalman once told me that she likes to start her day by reading the obituaries,” writes Glei. “It sounds morbid, but she does it to be inspired and gain perspective. To ask: What is the measure of a life?”

It’s a way to encourage yourself to track the progress in your life that matters, she writes. Even if we do know what we want to do, the sheer number of steps and moving parts involved in accomplishing it can feel overwhelming. How do you cut through the minutiae and figure out what matters?

When I find myself hunched over my computer, powering through my email, I try to remember this. Do I want my tombstone to say:

R.I.P.

Jocelyn Kendall Glei

“She checked all her email.”

Or do I want to strive for something grander?

What about you? Do you want to be the person who regularly attains “inbox zero,” or do you want to achieve something more meaningful in your one wild and precious life?﻿

And you also learn a lot about the lives of people across the world who have made differences in the world in their lifetimes. One recent obituary that stuck with me is about Joachim Ronneberg, a resistance fighter during World War II who led a raid that thwarted Hitler’s efforts to create an atomic bomb. But you don’t have to read just the obits about people with grand, “notable” lives. People everywhere have done remarkable things and lived full lives.

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Another way of framing it, I thought earlier this week, is to think about what people/activities/places/things/accomplishments from this year, 2019, you’ll want to reflect on in later years. What will you want to tell kids or grandkids about that happened all the way back in 2019? That you took a chance on a new job, or traveled to a country you’ve always been curious about? That this was the year you made a serious commitment to someone, or made a certain memory with your brother or sister?

The morning, as you’re preparing for your day and running through all of the things you have to do, is an ideal time to read an obituary and reflect. As Glei writes, it’s an opportunity to define “meaningful metrics and milestones that will keep you engaged with the long-term creative projects that matter most to you.”

As any veteran parent knows, getting out the door (on time) in the morning really starts the night before. Packing up lunches, stuffing homework into backpacks and having shoes ready and waiting by the door are a few of the basics that most parents have learned to save time and frustration in the morning.

But if you want to up your get-out-the-door game, we’ve got a few other tricks for you to try the night before and morning of.

Writer Lorraine Allen recommends pouring out (and covering) the kids’ cereal, prepping the coffee machine and filling the water pitcher the night before.

For families with babies, whose hands are often full holding hungry, squirming offspring in addition to being super pressed for time, simply setting up the highchair with the baby bowl, spoon, bib, sippy cup, and jar of mush can make a huge difference. When I take the time to do this, I’m able to feed my little one while enjoying a cup of coffee and my own breakfast, too.

Making lunches the night before is good. Having the kids make their own lunches the night before is great.

Let children pack their meals themselves by setting up a lunch-making station in your refrigerator. Just buy a few plastic bins (I picked up these modular onesfrom Target) and stock them with grab-and-go lunch components, like string cheese, yogurt pouches, or little baggies of fruit and veggies. Then place them on a refrigerator shelf that your kids can reach. You can create a similar setup in a low cabinet for non-refrigerated items—bread, packs of nut butter, applesauce cups and granola bars. For the youngest kids, it might help to number the bins and tell them they must pack all six (or whatever number) items. Yes, you’re still doing some of the initial legwork, but they’re gaining autonomy by making sure their lunches are complete.

It sounds intense, but the more I think about it, the more I wonder if the idea could work in my home. We love music and often use upbeat songs to tidy up quickly. The key here would be choosing the right tracks. You’d want them to be cheerful but not manic, fun but not distracting.

My son is unique in that he likes to get dressed the moment he wakes up. This seems great, I know, but once in a while, it’d be nice if dude could just lounge in his PJs for a sec. Plus, it would eliminate those frustrating moments when the spilled orange juice or syrup on the sleeve means a second outfit change before your day has even started:

One thing you can do to get everyone out the door faster is have your kids get dressed after breakfast. You’re anticipating disaster (which is more of the norm than the exception when you’re dealing with tiny humans who haven’t mastered their fine motor skills). Pajamas can be tossed into the hamper if some jelly and syrup gets on them. It will not mess up the process.

Recently, I came across some advice from Katherine Reynolds Lewis, author of the new parenting book The Good News About Bad Behavior: Why Kids Are Less Disciplined Than Ever—And What to Do About It. She says that if your young child is resisting the morning schedule (or stalling in other ways), walk out the door. Don’t yell, don’t nag, don’t threaten. Simply walk out the door, stand outside and wait. Stand there for five or 10 minutes or however long it takes your kid to get moving. And if they’re older and you’ve established your expectations, you can leave.

I actually did this one myself one morning last week. My son was taking four and a half hours to get his shoes on, and I decided that I was tired of spending so many hours a day watching him put his shoes on. So I opened the front door, turned the lock on the knob and headed down the front walkway to my car, yelling, “Pull the door shut behind you when you’re done!” behind me.

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He came out just a moment later and I was feeling rather smug about the whole thing. (Until he realized he forgot a book and I had to go back to unlock the door—but I still think we saved time and frustration overall.)

First, let us acknowledge what we are all thinking: These look a lot like AirPods. What, with the thin microphone stalks and dental floss-looking charging case. But unlike AirPods, the Liberty Airs have adjustable rubber ear tips, so they’ll actually seal your ears, no matter what size they are. And for just $64 (with promo code SDCAIR02), they include Bluetooth 5 for a solid connection, five hours of battery life (20 if you include the power in the charging case), and an 18 month warranty.

Seagate’s FireCuda is one of the most popular PS4 replacement hard drives out there, mostly thanks to its built-in 8GB of flash storage that canspeed up loading times, and you can get the 2TB model for just $85 today, or roughly $10 less than usual.

Range extenders aren’t a cure-all for your networking woes, but if you have one device in one particular corner of your home that just can’t seem to get a great signal from your router, this $17 extender might be all you need.

The picture quality should be nearly identical (which is a good thing!), but the 2018 models include LG’s ThinQ voice assistant and support for HFR (high frame rate video) up to 120 FPS. HFR content doesn’t really exist yet, but a few movies are expected to come to streaming services starting later this year, so if you’re planning on using the TV for several years, it might be worth it for future-proofing purposes.

If you want to be able to plug things in at your desk without squeezing your arm behind it, or awkwardly crouching down to find a power strip, this cube-shaped charger from Aukey sits atop of your desk, and includes four easy-to-access AC outlets, plus three USB charging ports. Just use promo code AUKEYK06 at checkout to get it for $19.

The SoundCore’s headlining feature is its 24 hour battery life, and in my experience, that’s a conservative estimate. It also packs in dual 6W drivers for room-filling sound, and looks pretty great to boot.

TCL’s affordable 6-series TVs are famous for offering every form of HDR (including top-shelf Dolby Vision), local dimming zones for better contrast and black levels, and even excellent Roku software. So if you want to upgrade before the large, important football game in a few weeks, the 65&quot; model just dropped to a new all-time low price of $850, which is actually $80 cheaper than we saw on Black Friday.

Private Internet Access doesn’t do much in the way of discounting, but they offer exclusive pricing and packages just for our readers that you won’t find anywhere else. Here are your options, and what you’d pay if you bought the same plan elsewhere:

These 8&quot; foam mattresses-in-a-box aren’t quite as thick as Tuft &amp; Needle’s main mattress, but honestly, you probably won’t be able to tell a difference, and they’d be great for a guest room or a kid’s room, at the very least. And unlike some similarly priced mattresses on Amazon, this one comes with a 100 night trial period, so there’s no risk in giving it a shot.

It’s actually the “sleep sets” that are on sale today, which include a mattress plus two of Tuft &amp; Needle’s cooling gel foam pillows. Prices start at just $280 for a twin set, and go up to $555 for a California king, with queens priced at just $435.

You’re probably saying to yourself, “why does a blender need a touchscreen, this is stupid, you’re stupid, I’m glad Hulk Hogan body slammed you.” But think about it for a second. Blenders are inherently messy. Your concoctions will inevitably spill, drip, and splatter, and even in small quantities, that can make the base of the blender sticky and gross. Wouldn’t it be easier to wipe down a flat pane of glass than to meticulously polish a bunch of buttons and switches and knobs?

If you ever make tacos at home, do yourself a favor and pick up four of these metal taco holders for just $17. If you use them like “Ms,”, they’ll hold two tacos, but flip them over into “Ws” and &lt;audience gasps&gt; they hold three tacos! For this reason, I recommend using them upside down, because who doesn’t want more tacos?

There’s really very little reason for most people to use gas-powered lawnmowers these days. They’re loud, they require a fair amount of maintenance, they’re a disaster for the environment, and most importantly, electric mowers have gotten really good.

This 21&quot; model includes two batteries that should give you a combined 70 minutes of mowing time. It almost always sells between $260 and $380, but Woot’s currently marking it down to an all-time low $200, just in time for spring.

Seaweed snacks give you the experience of eating food with basically no calories, and Amazon’s Wickedly Prime korean kalbi seaweed is down to just $11 for 24 individual serving packs after you clip the 30% coupon. Each pack has only 25 calories, and even if you don’t snack on them, you can use them in cooking.

Despite its diminutive size, this includes all the same features as the full-sized WeMo Switch, including IFTTT support, Alexa compatibility, and an Away mode that will randomize your lights to deter ne’er-do-wells.

Everyone knows about Roombas, but did you know iRobot made a robotic mop as well? The iRobot Braava Jet has three different modes: Wet mopping, damp sweeping and dry sweeping, and can select the proper one automatically depending on which cleaning pad you attach. You can put it to work on your floors for just $132 today, the best price Amazon’s ever listed.

Why would you ever futz around with a bubble level, a yardstick, and a pencil when you can draw a straight line with a LASER? &lt;Inception horn&gt;

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This laser level from Black &amp; Decker is only $11 today, and can rotate 360 degrees once attached to a wall to project a straight line across the room. It’s not self-leveling like some more expensive lasers, but it does have two backlit bubble levels to help you achieve perfectly horizontal and vertical lines.

Winter isn’t done with us yet, so grab this 8 pound container of Safe Paw ice melter for $21 on Amazon today. It’s non-toxic, pet safe, child safe, and concrete safe, and it will melt ice even in sub-zero temperatures. It’s like a shovel that you sprinkle.

So, you want 2019 to be the year that switch to a standing desk. Congrats! Just don’t be too smug about it with your coworkers; it’s not a great look.

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Anyway, depending on your budget and priorities, you’ve got three different options on sale today.

1)A standing desk converter that sits on your existing desk, and raises at will with the help of springs and struts. At $120 with promo code ERGONOMIC, this is your cheapest option.

2) An electric standing desk converter, which is essentially the same as the above, but it raises with the press of a button. I don’t personally think it’s worth the added cost ($200 with code ELECTRIC), but to each their own.

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3) A real-ass standing desk that actually replaces your existing desk, and raises or lowers at will. At $300 with promo code DESK2019, this is one of the cheapest full standing desks we’ve ever seen, if you’re really ready to commit. Just note that it raises with a lever; it’s not electric.

So whichever you choose, you won’t have to commit to standing for eight hours a day; you can sit or stand at will, depending on how your legs are feeling. But again, please don’t be that guy.

Find someone who looks at you the way cats look at the PetFusion cat lounger. Normally $50, it very rarely goes on sale, because with 6,000 reviews and an insane 4.8-star rating, it probably sells itself. It’s made of recycled cardboard, its curved design makes it easier for cats to scratch, and the grooves of the cardboard are perfect for rubbing in some catnip for hours of (your) entertainment.

If you’re the type to carry around a blade on the daily, your options just got a lot more portable. Hot off the heels of a hugely successful crowdfunding campaign, the lilliputian WESN Titanium Microblade just launched on Amazon last month, and you can save 15% with promo code 15QAW1EC, which brings it down to $43. I can think of no better tool to open all of the boxes you order from Kinja Deals.

This is a desk. It looks a perfectly functional horizontal surface on which to work, and its legs even have a little bit of razzle dazzle, but it’s just a desk. I’m sure it’s not the best desk you can buy, but it’s $40, so if you’re still using, like, a stack of pizza boxes, or a large cable spool, or your lap as your desk, it would surely be an upgrade. Just use code shelf001 to get the deal.

Despite the proliferation of affordable smart outlet switches over the past couple of years, we haven’t seen many weatherproof options yet, and we’ve seen even fewer models with multiple outlets that can be controlled separately. This $23 option from iClever though has both of those features, and can be controlled with your phone, your voice assistant, or even IFTTT. Just be sure to use promo code SMARTPLUG25 at checkout to save a few bucks.

Valentine’s Day is officially one month out, which means it’s time to start planning something special for the special someone. If you’re smart, you’ll consider getting the object of your affection a bouquet of flowers, because flowers are classic, easy to procure, and — thanks to this deal from 1800Flowers — not too pricey.

Every new Firstleaf member gets an introductory delivery with three bottles of wine for just $15, plus $5 shipping. Every box thereafter includes six bottles for $80, plus $10 shipping. If you use this link and promo code Kinja when you sign up though, you’ll get free shipping on every box for your entire first year. That’ll save you over $100 if you get a new box every month.

Sunglass Warehouse offers some of the best deals in sunglasses even when they aren’t running a sale, so when you can get an extra 30% off sitewide (with promo code BONUS30), you should fill up your cart.

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Notably, this deal works on the site’s clearance section as well, which has glasses available starting at under $3, so these deals are so bright that you’re gonna need shades. You’ll get free shipping on orders over $25, so stock up.

We’ve got a sale that will make you get out your wallet...and ditch it for something newer and cuter. The pocketbook purveyors at Kate Spade want to hook you up with new handbags, wallets, clothing, jewelry and other accessories this season, so they’re taking an extra 30% off already marked down sale items. Use promo code BRILLIANTFIND to take advantage of this designer deal.

TOMS are well-known for one kind of shoe — you know what we’re talking about — but in case you’re not up to date, the brand actually offers a whole range of other, more winter-appropriate styles. Whether you’re looking to test out classic TOMS or something new, check out their already marked-down sale section and get an 25% off with promo code EXTRA25. But don’t walk, run to take advantage of this deal; it’s only happening for less than two more days.

Compared to previous flash sales we’ve seen, this one seems a bit heavier on running apparel and shoes, but if that’s not your sport, just use the sidebar to filter by product type, and you can surely find something to fit your wardrobe. This sale ends Monday at midnight, and the best stuff could sell out early, so you should run, not walk over to Nike.

No matter how what method you use to commute, it has drawbacks. Public transportation makes you beholden to other people’s schedules, driving a car forces you to combat traffic and is environmentally unfriendly, and riding a bike means you’ll arrive at the office winded and drenched in sweat.

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Or, it used to mean that, until somebody invented the Hyper 700c E-Ride Electric Commuter Bike or mountain bike. You still get the fitness benefits of pedaling, but a motor helps you along when you face a challenging hill or just want to take it easy for a stretch. Such a smart idea! My morning commute is literally less than 100 feet, and I’m still trying to convince myself I don’t need this.

Nike Dri-FIT tees are the chameleons of the workout gear ecosystem, equally at home in the weight room, on a run, or in a pickup sports league. If you ever exercise, you literally can’t have enough of these things. So go ahead and sprint over to Amazon to grab as many as you can for $15 before the prices go back to normal.

Assuming you aren’t just marking time in your relationship, watches can make for great Valentine’s Day gifts, and Breda’s here to help with an exclusive $30 off for our readers with promo code KINJA30. That code will work on any regular priced watch, and there are a ton of options available for both men and women. They’ve got square watches, circular watches, watches with leather bands, watches with metal straps...and somehow, they all look really good.

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The clocks’s ticking on this deal though—it ends on 1/31—so don’t procrastinate on Valentine’s Day like you do every other year.

Gear up for long-weekend outdoor adventures with REI’s January Clearance sale, featuring up to 50% off all kinds of apparel and equipment from a range of your favorite brands, including Patagonia, The North Face, Sorel, and more. Also notably among the on-sale items is this 20-degree sleeping bag, one of our favorites.

Many of these selected styles are new to the sale section, and they likely won’t last long. So be sure to gather your supplies before we say “Happy trails!” to this sale on January 22.

Still haven’t given up on those new year’s fitness goals? This resistance band set lets you get a full workout in any room in your house, with up to 150 pounds of resistance if you use all of the bands in concert. And at $16 (with promo code MPOW146A), it’s quite a bit more cost-effective than joining a gym.

In case you haven’t heard, retinol should be a go-to for those looking to rid their skin of acne, dark spots, wrinkles and other imperfections. But because retinol is such a skincare super star, it doesn’t usually come cheap — that is, until now, because Amazon is offering up a $5 off coupon on this solid LilyAna Naturals Retinol Cream Moisturizer.

It will only cost you $15 to start seeing wow-worthy skin clearing results. Just remember, this stuff is powerful, so it’s best to ease this product into your skincare routine slowly before diving face first into daily use.

If you’re having trouble sleeping, suffering from anxiety, or having trouble sleeping because you’re suffering from anxiety, Sunday Scaries CBD gummies could help. Jolie Kerr shared her thoughts on them for The Inventory, and now, our readers can save 15% for the always-stressful holiday season with promo code kinja15.

Deluxe is great for homeowners and anyone with any sort of standard investment income, but you’ll want to step up to Premium if you rent out property or are self-employed. It’s also on sale for $47, which isn’t quite as good a deal as Premium (it was under $40 briefly back in December), but it’s still a solid discount compared to buying from H&amp;R Block directly.

Whichever one you choose, you’ll be able to import your previous years’ taxes from TurboTax if you’re switching over, and you can elect to receive all or some of your refund in the form of an Amazon gift card, with a 5% bonus.

Will Mpow’s EG3 gaming headset match the sound quality of a HyperX Cloud? Of course not. Do you want fancy LED lights? Try something from Razer. But if you’re on a budget and want to experience 7.1 surround sound (which really helps in games like Fortnite and PUBG), you can’t beat $19. Just clip the $5 coupon on the page, then stack on code MPOWEG3A at checkout.

Problem: You love air hockey, but don’t have much space or much money.

Solution: This 4' long mini table, just $24 when you pick it up from Walmart (or $29 if you get it shipped to your house), complete with electronic scoring. I recommend spending the savings on bandages for your knuckles.

AKRacing’s Premium Masters Series chairs are ergonomically sculpted, include all the adjustment options you’d expect, and come in a variety of colors. At checkout, you can choose a black, blue, red, Indigo, or white version for the $300 price or the Pro model in black, blue, gray, red, or white for $30 more.

If you’re naturally a night owl, dragging yourself out of bed early is challenge enough. There’s no need to add meditation, journaling, a five mile run and a head start on emails on top of that. If mornings are hard, your morning routine should be easy.

People who are naturally early risers should skip the rest of this article, because I’m talking to my fellow night owls, sleep-deprived folks, and other snooze button lovers. A few months ago I noticed how much better my day goes when I finish my workout before I start in on any other obligations. So I started getting up at 6:30 a.m. (This is super late by morning lark standards, but screw them.) Here is how I survived.

Start small

Don’t be too ambitious. Over time, you can work toward earlier wake-up times and a longer morning to-do list, but for now, just get up a little earlier and make use of that time.

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Now, it’s no big deal for me to wake up at 5:55 a.m. and head to the gym for a 90-minute workout of lifting and treadmill running. But when I started, I was getting up at 6:30 and promised myself that a half hour’s workout would be enough.

This is an important confidence builder. If you’re in bed thinking about how difficult it will be to carry out all your morning plans, you’ll probably just give up and sleep in.

Fortunately, it gets better from there. I stand up and stagger into the bathroom, because what else am I going to do. While I’m there, I might as well brush my teeth. That takes exactly two minutes, which my toothbrush times for me. And by that point—maybe three minutes after the ritual swearing at the alarm clock—that sense of horror and dread at daybreak has begun to dissipate.

Next I get dressed and go to the gym. If I’m still not fully awake, I plop myself down on a recumbent stationary bike—the kind that look sort of like an easy chair with pedals—and scroll through my phone for five minutes while pedaling slowly. It still counts! After that, I’m usually as awake as I’m going to get. It’s enough.

Make all your decisions the night before

You have to be able to do mornings on autopilot. As you’re getting ready for bed, allow your night owl self to take care of future you. Lay out your clothes, your coffee supplies, anything you will need in that hazy time that you’re not 100 percent awake.

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This also means committing to plans. Don’t trust Morning You with the job of judging whether it’s too cold for a run or whether there’s really enough time to cook breakfast and write morning pages before work. Check the weather, do some calculations, and give Morning You some hard-and-fast rules to follow.

Get enough sleep

If you’ve had eight hours (or whatever amount is right for you), morning tiredness only really lasts for a few minutes. Power through it, and you’ll get through the day just fine.

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But if you’re waking up in the morning and you haven’t gotten enough sleep, your brain may not feel like it ever fully wakes up. Go easy on yourself the first day you wake up easy, and allow yourself to go to bed early that night to make up for it. But don’t plan on powering through tiredness every day; in the end, you can’t really cheat sleep.

On a recent afternoon, I headed toward my gym: a small, second-floor space I’d been a member at for at least five years. It was my second home and I’d spent more time there, contemplating life among weights and cardio machines, than any other place beyond my apartment.

Upon reaching the gym’s double-door entrance, I encountered a bolt lock around the doors’ handles and large, orange signage with the word “seizure” in bold letters covering the windows; My gym was served with an eviction notice—leaving me and at least 500 other members in the cold, without so much as an email to inform us.

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Turns out, sudden gym closures are hardly a rare occurrence. But what should you do when it happens to you?

Contact Your Credit Card Company

As the Chicago Tribune recommends, when a vendor hasn’t provided you with their promised services (and say, you’ve paid months in advance), it’s best to contact your credit card company and file a claim to dispute those charges. It isn’t foolproof, especially when a gym has gone under, but it’s worth a shot.

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It’s also worth digging around for that contract you initially signed with your gym that could provide some legal protections on your part—look for any lines that refer to interrupted service.

Yes, there’s also the option of taking your former gym to small claims court. But again, it’s impossible if your gym has filed for bankruptcy.

Turn Off Any Automatic Payments

If you have automatic payments set up with your gym through your checking account, be sure to turn those off. They may attempt to charge you even after your membership ends.

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It may be tempting to cancel your card when a situation like this arises or when you just want out of a gym. Don’t do it. Your former gym may bring down the hammer and assign your “debt” to a collections agency, with the potential to affect your credit score.

Negotiate a Good Deal with Your New Gym

So you’ve finally made your peace with your old gym, and it’s time to look for greener pastures. You are now a hot commodity to prospective gyms, especially in competitive areas with a number of chains. Each of these chains wants a share of those members from your old gym and are willing to do whatever it takes, including getting flexible on costs.

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Use your situation to negotiate a new deal when visiting prospective gyms and don’t be afraid to mention other gyms offering better deals.

Another key tip: join a new gym towards the end of the month. Typically, membership advisors have quotas, and by the end of a given month, odds are you’ll get a better deal.

And of course, be sure to get everything in writing. If a price seems too good to be true, having it in writing might help you down the line.

First, let us acknowledge what we are all thinking: These look a lot like AirPods. What, with the thin microphone stalks and dental floss-looking charging case. But unlike AirPods, the Liberty Airs have adjustable rubber ear tips, so they’ll actually seal your ears, no matter what size they are. And for just $64 (with promo code SDCAIR02), they include Bluetooth 5 for a solid connection, five hours of battery life (20 if you include the power in the charging case), and an 18 month warranty.

Hack Your City goes to Albuquerque, New Mexico this week, and we’d be happy if we spent the whole time talking about the city’s annual International Balloon Fiesta. But there’s more to Albuquerque than its shiny, candy-colored hot air balloons. What else can you tell us about visiting and living in the city where Walter White threw a pizza on the roof, where Bugs Bunny should have taken a left turn?

What’s underrated and unexpected? What are the best alternatives to overrated spots? What’s the weirdest, craziest, or nerdiest thing you like there?

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How should a visitor approach the city? What are the important local traditions, behaviors, and laws? How do you describe the vibe to an outsider? Which clichés are true or false?

What’s it like long-term? Albuquerque occasionally shows up on “best places to live” lists. Residents, what do you love and hate about the area? How do you hack daily life there? What’s a good hole-in-the-wall for locals? What local hack took you years to discover? Where do you go when you want to get out of town?

Leave your tips in the comments below, and we’ll highlight the best ones. (Read some other comments to make sure yours is unique.) Come back Thursday for a new post full of highlights and pretty pictures of balloons.